Time Machine backs up everything every hour!

[PeterSG]

More Info

Over the last several days I have been running Time Machine and watching what and how it operates in its back up processes.

1.) If I turn Time Machine off, when I turn it on hours later, it prepares about 8,300 items and then backs up 27.3 GB. This takes about 55 minutes.

2.) If I leave Time Machine on, it prepares about 8,300 items and backs up about 160 MB. This takes about 23 minutes.

3.) The duration of all back ups is the same whether using Firewire 800 or USB.

4.) The preparation process and back up processes appear identical whether using a La Cie 500 GB drive or a Seagate 500 GB drive.

Is there a parameter that tells Time Machine to back up ONLY changed files? If so, could this parameter be set to back up all files each time?

Also, if a back up finishes and I then immediately start Time Machine again, it will prepare and back up the same number of files again and take the same amount of time.

~~~~~

I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on correcting this tedious and wasteful situation.

Thank you.

 

[PeterSG]

Curious?

Gee willikers.

Isn't anyone curious why a Time Machine backs up 27 GB and then, after it finishes, it backs up 27 GB again... and again... and again?

Even when there have been no changes and no usage of the Mac, Time Machine backs up 27 GB.

Curious.

It's all documented in the posts above... especially post 19.

?????

 

[Slydude]

It's not a lack of curiosity as much as a lack of relevant information on my part. I'm still looking for an answer though I have not had much time to search lately.

 

[PeterSG]

It's not a lack of curiosity as much as a lack of relevant information on my part. I'm still looking for an answer though I have not had much time to search lately.

~~~~~

Thank you. Your curiosity and skills will resolve this problem.

I appreciate your sincere effort.

Peter

 

[Slydude]

~~~~~

Thank you. Your curiosity and skills will resolve this problem.

I appreciate your sincere effort.

Peter

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Better to call it curiosity than to admit that I just don't like admitting I don't know the answer.

 

[Slydude]

I stumbled upon this article from someone who was having similar issues. In his case the culprit seems to have been a folder or two in DropBox.

He mentions a piece of software in this article that identifies the files Time machine is backing up. If we can identify the files being backed up perhaps we can sniff out one more piece of the puzzle. What's Time Machine Actually Backing Up? - MacNews

 

[PeterSG]

This article describes a situation similar to mine.

I will pursue this idea and report what I ferret out.

A definitive answer here might resolve this problem for many others who have it and expend unnecessary time backing up. There may be some Time Machine users who aren't aware of this problem if it's of a smaller magnitude. It is wasteful, even if it doesn't involve many gigabytes.

Thank you very much for pursuing this problem.

 

[PeterSG]

I have methodically excluded folder by folder most of the folders in my hard drive's personal location.

These included folders containing images, programs, and files such as word files.

Repeatedly the following resulted.

-- Time Machine selects approximately 8,300 items to prepare and apparently back up.

-- The back up process takes 19 to 22 minutes each time, regardless of whether I use Firewire 800 or USB.

-- If I initiate another Time Machine back up, 30 seconds or so after it has finished a back up, it finds the approximately 8,300 items to back up.


-- It seems apparent that some "force" is setting bit codes or somehow telling Time Machine that these approximately 8,300 files have been changed since its last back up run -- even when the next back up run is about 30 seconds later!

~~~~~

I have been using Snow Leopard since it was released over two years ago. Does anyone know if Time Machine has been improved or changed in later operating systems?

 

[BrianLachoreVPI]

Is it a safe assumption that you formatted the drive to Extended Journaled? I seem to recall reading somewhere some time ago - can't find it now - that Time Machine didn't like any other format and could get squirrelly.

 

[BrianLachoreVPI]

Also - skimming through some of the links that Slydude posted - did you verify your hard drive and repair disk permissions using a utility like Onyx? These are shots in the dark - but logical troubleshooting seems to have already been tried.

 

[PeterSG]

Is it a safe assumption that you formatted the drive to Extended Journaled? I seem to recall reading somewhere some time ago - can't find it now - that Time Machine didn't like any other format and could get squirrelly.

~~~~~

Thanks for your assistance with this problem.

The LaCie 500 GB drive I have used for the past two years had been working just well as it came with its pre-formatting.

The Seagate Backup Plus 500 GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive for Mac that I bought one month ago also came pre-formatted for Time Machine.

With each drive, I just plugged them in and started using Time Machine.

I have been using Time Machine on each drive and they operate exactly the same.

I don't know if these drives are formatted correctly, but I trusted that they were.

 

[PeterSG]

Also - skimming through some of the links that Slydude posted - did you verify your hard drive and repair disk permissions using a utility like Onyx? These are shots in the dark - but logical troubleshooting seems to have already been tried.

~~~~~

I used the utility on the Mac to verify the LaCie, the Seagate, and my internal hard drive.

 

[TattooedMac]

Why do you need to backup every 60 minutes anyway? Just backup once a day in the evening when you're sleeping or the machine is idle. Download the free Time Machine Scheduler and use it to set a more realistic interval.

Nice link Charlie. Thanks. Will use this now with my new TimeCapsule Will come in very handy . . . .

@Slydude nice work mate on your research into this problem. Following to see if you can sought the OP out ......... Well done mate !!!!

 

[PeterSG]

The mystery broadens...

Suddenly, as of the last few hours, Time Machine reports that its "Preparing items" count is now, for the most recent three back ups, approximately 10,500 items.

This number had been consistent, within a few hundred items, at 8,300 for the last several weeks.

I am attempting to identify what happened recently. I have no ideas -- even though this should be a clue that makes this mystery more solvable.

Now I feel like a real dunce.

 

[PeterSG]

I just excluded from Time Machine's back up the system's Application folder.

The prepared item count decreased from about 10,500 items to about 5.600 items.

Why would Time Machine be seeing so many "items" in the system's Application folder as having changed and needing to be backed up from one back up to the next? ...Even when the back up is preceded by a Time Machine back up that ran just a minute earlier?

 

[PeterSG]

Another idea

Could using a program such as OnyX for Mac or CleanMyMac correct this situation?

I was thinking that perhaps the thousands of files that Time Machine sees as having changed and, therefore needing to be backed up, are actually just junk or left over files.

Obviously I am a novice on the Mac. But I'm still trying to eliminate this unnecessary activity.

It's unnecessary even though I run Time Machine only after having made changes to important files. And it indicates that there is some sort of problem with my Mac.

 

[BrianLachoreVPI]

Definitely do not install CleanMyMac - but I highly recommend installing Onyx and running its utilities. Especially verifying the disk and repairing permissions. This was one of my earlier suggestions as well. From my limited perspective - - it can only be a source disk issue, a destination disk issue, or a file issue. You seem to have done everything you could to rule out the first 2 and at least partially addressed the 3rd by examining the plist file Time Machine uses to keep track of changes - at least run Onyx and repair permissions to see if that corrects any file issues that is causing Time Machine confusion.

 

[PeterSG]

OnyX Results

Thank you Brian L. for the OnyX idea.

I installed OnyX for Snow Leopard. The following documents the operations that followed the download.

--- OnyX verified S.M.A.R.T.

--- Under Maintenance -- Fix Permissions it ran for about 4 minutes and repaired approximately 70 permissions. The log display was about five windows long.

--- Under Cleaning -- System, I used the default checked items. It took about 30 seconds and then restarted the Mac.

--- Under Cleaning -- User, I used the default checked items and then restarted the Mac.

--- I then opened Parallels & Windows 7 & FrontPage. I also opened Firefox and Thunderbird and used them for about five minutes. All worked well.

--- I restarted the Mac.

--- I ran Time Machine three times while powering down between the first and second run. Time Machine results follow.

TM Run 1.) Elapsed time = 30 minutes

Backup 1 item count = 10,535 for 222MB
Backup 2 item count = 10,307 for unspecified disk space

I ran Firefox & Thunderbird for 5 minutes and powered down.

TM Run 2.) Elapsed time = 27 minutes

Backup 1 item count = 10,450 for 144 MB
Backup 2 item count = 10,307 for unspecified disk space

I ran Firefox & Thunderbird for 5 minutes. There was no power down.

TM Run 3.) Elapsed time = 28 minutes

Backup 1 item count = 10,312 for 157 KB
Backup 2 item count = about 10,300 for unspecified disk space

~~~~~

There are two very noticeable changes since running OnyX. Both are improvements.

1.) FrontPage operates much faster than before OnyX. It opens and closes files like I cannot recall it ever doing in the dozen years of my having used it..

2.) When I plug in the Seagate external drive, the Mac recognizes it within 30 to 40 seconds. That is, it completes (fills in) the desktop icon as it always had before this problem started; I do not have to use Preferences to specify to Time Machine what drive to use.

Since about the beginning of this Time Machine problem, I have had to specify which drive Time Machine should use for its back up -- even though it was the only one.

~~~~~

I truly appreciate the thought and experience being applied to resolve my problem.

 

[PeterSG]

My Mac's Time Machine backs up tens of thousands of items every hour -- even when the Mac has not been used since the last back up.

It finds about 7,000 to 18,000 items and backs up hundreds of megabytes & up to over a gig.

I have tried several "exclude" settings in TM options. No matter how many folders I exclude, TM finds thousands of items that have changed since its last backup -- even when it just backed up 15 minutes before & I have not touched the computer in the interim.

I run iOS 10.6.8 and Parallels with Windows 7. I have checked inside Parallels to not include its files in the backups.

I have used Onyx several times.

~~~~~

Is something time stamping files and, thereby changing files?

Does anyone have any ideas at all to resolve these long backups?

 

[chscag]

Let's not start a new thread for the same subject and problem. I moved your current thread on the end of your original. That thread will come to the top anyway if you post to it so there is no sense starting a new one.